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Geography of North America and the Great Plains, large - Coggle Diagram
Geography of North America and the Great Plains
Where?
The American West is referred to the area of North America that is west of the Mississippi River.
This river (Mississippi) runs from the northernmost region of present-day USA, right down to the Gulf of Mexico
CLIMATE
The weather can vary severely, it can even make farming difficult today.
The mountains on either side of the Plains produce rain shadows (regions with little rain)
You often get droughts in the summer and severe snow in the winter
The plains are very far from the sea. This means that there's a huge difference in temperature between summer and winter.
Tornadoes are quite common-like the one that damaged Oklahoma City in 1999
These extremes are described as a continental climate.
CHARACTERISTICS
Enormous in size!!
Lack of trees
Semi-arid - little water available
Unpredictable weather, including extremely cold and violent winters
Ferocious winds - the winter 'Northers' and the scorching summer winds
Many areas flat and featureless
inhabited by locusts and grasshoppers
Inhabited by wolves
